Generics have been part of the prescriptions in cancer therapy for quite some time now. And the numbers grow: According to recent figures mentioned in Cancer Work in a total global oncology drugs market approaching $100 billion, revenues from generics are growing at twice the rate of the market as a whole. They will reach more than $20 billion by 2018.

Now one of the first targeted therapies, Imatinib (Glivec®/Gleevec®), becomes generic: The patent expired or will expire for the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) in different countries. Even though the patent for Imatinib in GIST isn’t running out until approximately 2021, generic Imatinib might be offered to GIST patients as well. That is why we want to provide you with some valuable background information about generics and answer some of the questions you might have.

The CML Community/CML Advocates Network has been closely following the developments for the past 3 years on TKI generics and has put together a webinar to summarize the current status.The webinar answers some important questions, e.g. What are generics, and do they differentiate from innovator products? Which generic products of CML Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors exist? What do we know about efficacy and safety? What information on CML generics is available to patients? What has the patient advocacy community done so far? What can patients and patient advocacy groups do about CML generics?

With the Glivec patent about to expire in most countries please click here and watch this important webinar with the latest updates.

Targeted Therapies

New insights from molecular biology and biomedicine reveal certain features and characteristics of malignant cells which can be targeted by the development of new, specific drugs. For example, cancer cells usually show changes in their genetic material (= mutations) which lead to altered protein structures where either the cause can be inhibited or the effect can be treated.

Since these characteristics do not (or only rarely) show up in normal cells, targeted therapy specifically fights cancer cells and spares healthy cells. This approach usually makes it both effective and less toxic than chemotherapy.

GIST

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) affects the digestive tract or nearby structures within the abdomen. The most common location is the stomach. GI stromal tumor, or GIST cancer, is a sarcoma.

Immuno-oncology (IO) therapy is a new (and old) way to treat cancer by activating your immune system in the hope that it will attack your tumour.

One of the earliest treatments for cancer was a kind of immune therapy. Coley’s Toxins was a soup of bacterial toxins that was injected directly into tumours over a century ago. This caused a great deal of inflammation and unfortunately sickness, but did lead to the cure of a small number of people.

A number of other immune therapies have been developed and trialled over the last century, but side effects, cost and variable benefits have limited their usefulness.

More recently, newer types of immune therapies (also called immuno-oncology or IO therapies) have been proving successful in some types of cancer. For example, results from early trials of immuno-oncology for advanced skin cancer (melanoma) and lung cancer have been encouraging, and some of these drugs have already been approved for use in some countries. Other types of immune therapies including vaccines are currently in trials for kidney cancer.

Targeted Therapies

New insights from molecular biology and biomedicine reveal certain features and characteristics of malignant cells which can be targeted by the development of new, specific drugs. For example, cancer cells usually show changes in their genetic material (= mutations) which lead to altered protein structures where either the cause can be inhibited or the effect can be treated.

Since these characteristics do not (or only rarely) show up in normal cells, targeted therapy specifically fights cancer cells and spares healthy cells. This approach usually makes it both effective and less toxic than chemotherapy.

GIST

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) affects the digestive tract or nearby structures within the abdomen. The most common location is the stomach. GI stromal tumor, or GIST cancer, is a sarcoma.